'Kill Boksoon' Filmmaker Talks Netflix Action-Thriller Shades of Female 'John Wick'

“Killing Bok-sun” (from left to right) Lee Yeon as Kim Young-ji, Jeon Do-yeon as Ji Bok-soon in “Killing Bok-sun” No Giants/Netflix

Director Bian Chengxian When he first learned about his feature film Kill Boshun will be invited to the Berlin International Last month’s film festival.

“I didn’t expect that at all,” he said at a news conference in ) Kill Boksoon was held in Seoul earlier this month. “I don’t think Kill Bok-soon is the kind of film that would be picked up by a film festival like Berlin. It’s a genre film. But the screening happened in 1 theater, seat, I am touched to see the audience resonate with this story.”

action thriller and Netflix Original, coming in March 01 on the streaming service, retraces the story of a female assassin named Boksoon ( stars versatile Korean actress Jeon Do-yeon ) as a teenage Single mother of daughter. The contrast between the heroine’s life as the killer and the mother is an interesting juxtaposition in the film, especially as the story progresses as the daughter admits she’s in love with a girl at school, revealing how the mother and daughter hid their lives key aspects of . Title and setting refer to Kill Bill’s Female Assassin and John Wick of Contract Killer, this film is filled with stylish and well-crafted action sequences and dystopian spaces.

Byun, longtime fan of Jeon, best actress award winner at Cannes Film Festival Lee Cangdong’s Secret Sunshine said the film was inspired by his observations of the actresses interacting with their daughters in real life.

“We met and had many conversations to get ideas for the film, and I learned that there was a big gap between her role as a mother and as an actress. It would be fun to show that juxtaposition with a character who feeds and kills.”

Byun, known for his meticulous editing of previous films The Merciless(2021) andKingmaker(2007 ), want energetic stunts and sword fighting scenes Kill Boksoon — A new style of filmmaking for Jeon.

“I’m both grateful and uncomfortable when I’m shooting an action scene,” he says. “In some scenes, seeing the actors struggle so much, I almost gave up. I finally said that I would find a solution through editing, but the actors insisted on doing it again. I am grateful, but watching them suffer It was painful. I told my DP that I would never do an action movie again.”

‘Kill Boksoon’ No Ju-han/Netflix

This movie is full of paradoxes. Aside from the heroine’s opposing roles as killer and mother, her name Boksoon is an old-fashioned name, usually used in rural areas for dogs or women.

“I couldn’t think of the lead actress’s name for a while. I tend to use the names of people I know when I write scripts. Then one day [when we meet], Jeon’s An aunt’s name came up on her phone as “Aunt Boksoon”. Right away, I wanted to use that name. Jeon insisted that she didn’t want to use that name, but I used it anyway.”

Despite the stylized action scenes, the film also makes bold statements about capitalism and morality in contemporary society. MK ENT, the agency that employs hundreds of killers in the film, tells employees that they are different from other independent agencies that hire freelancers and kill anyone (even children) for money. The film begins with Booksoon on a mission to kill a Japanese yakuza boss. But instead of killing him with a gun, she brought up a conversation she had with her daughter about fair play and offered to fight him first.

“Because this is a genre film, I consciously included a lot of conceptual dialogue that might resonate with the times we live in,” he said. “The movie explores a lot of conflicting ideas, and there’s no point in emphasizing ethics because it’s ultimately a story about killing people. I guess what I’m trying to say is that everything in this world is contradictory, that there’s good and evil. If I’ve been asked ‘what is morality’ and my conclusion is that as long as you don’t lose your dignity, you’re fine.”

The film is also a tribute to two veteran actors – Full and Long Sol Kyung-gu, the Korean male lead, plays the head of MK ENT and has a crush on Boksoon. The two actors appeared opposite each other at the beginning of Park Heung-sik’s career 2007 Romantic Comedy, I Wish I Had a Wife.

There is a line in the film that hurts even more when stabbed with an old knife. This is my homage to both actors,” said Byun.

‘Kill Boksoon’ No Giants/Netflix